Recently became a Mac mini owner and new to MacOS.
I purchased it for three reasons: 1) as an owner of an iPhone & Watch, I considered it the logical choice to complete the ecosystem since these devices work seamlessly together, 2) I wanted a modern machine for image (Lightroom) & video (Premiere Pro) editing, and 3) I was simply tired of Windows (subjective, of course).
I will focus on 2) because I find it the most interesting compared to everything else, and comparing the Mac mini M1 with 8GB RAM directly to a laptop with an 8th generation i5 at 3.9GHz, 16GB RAM, NVMe2 disk, and Nvidia 1050 2GB RAM, while performing the same heavy tasks using the same programs:
Regarding Lightroom, which is optimized for the M1, there is ABSOLUTELY NO COMPARISON. It loads in half the time (or even less), navigating through the tool tabs is instantaneous, editing is the same, the library of 2,500+ edited .raw photos loads instantly, and scrolling is smooth. Exporting an image takes about a second. IT'S A WHOLE NEW WORLD.
As for Premiere Pro, which is NOT optimized and runs through Rosetta 2, opening takes more time, exporting is the same as on the PC (a Full HD video at 60 FPS with color grading, effects, graphics, and .wav music in H.264 takes about 4 minutes), BUT during program usage, everything is faster. It's like playing an FPS game at 45 frames and now at 120!
Beyond that, I don't miss anything. I have Office 365, OneDrive, all the apps I used to use, including more specialized ones like Elgato Control, OBS, etc.
I unlock it with my Watch, no longer need my iPhone while I'm at the office, I play sound through the HomePod mini (BTW, it's amazing), I have 15+ heavy pages open in Safari (e.g., YouTube), open social apps (e.g., Signal, WhatsApp), Outlook, and the processor is idle (useless) at 94%!
The only thing I miss is an SD card slot.
Bonus: the most aesthetically pleasing mini computer.